Tennessee Titans fall to Jacksonville Jaguars, 16-14

The Tennessee Titans today fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 16-14, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville to open the 2011 NFL season.  The game started out for the Titans quite a lot like the Jaguars’ victory at LP Field last offseason, with the Jaguars running the ball down the field successfully without the need to pass much while the Titans’ offense struggled.  The Titans’ defense eventually had some more success and managed to hold the Jaguars out of the end zone for the rest of the game.

Another thing that was reminisicent of that Jaguars game, though, was the Titans’ offense was unable to move the ball with much success.  They went 3-and-out their first two possessions and had only one possession where they took a snap inside the Jaguars’ 40 yard line.  The Titans’ offensive fate finally started to change thanks to a play by somebody who wasn’t active in that Jaguars’ win.  The Titans had a good goalline stand to hold the Jaguars to a field goal and a 13-0 lead.  Matt Hasselbeck stepped up as the Jaguars got pressure and found Kenny Britt, who’d lost Rashean Mathis going over the middle and raced past the rest of the Jaguars’ defense for 80 yards and a score.

The Jaguars extended their lead to 16-7, but the Titans would make things interesting with a second TD pass to Britt (nice grab and toe-tap) and got the ball back inside their own 5 with 1:45 to play and a chance to get a field goal and the win.  They got out near mid-field, though, and then Hasselbeck was intercepted to end the game and seal the defeat.

Some player notes, after the jump:

• I thought Matt Hasselbeck struggled, but wasn’t terrible.
• Why did the Titans not run the ball in the second quarter? I’m not really angry about that, but philosophically running seemed to be what they wanted to do and giving up after 4 attempts was weird.
• Jaguars RDE Jeremy Mincey blew up the 3&1 run play early in the fourth quarter. Credit him for a really good play more than you blame the Titans.
• Kenny Britt is an absolute stud, and the Titans’ best offensive game-changers.  Yes, I said it.
• The bigger defensive tackles did not have a big impact.  Karl Klug (not really bigger) was out of position on Jones-Drew’s touchdown run.  I thought Jurrell Casey looked really bad in the first quarter and a half or so, but improved a little.
• Barrett Ruud didn’t have a strong game, but like Hasselbeck I didn’t think he was as bad as the early reviews have him.
• The Jaguars didn’t really threaten throwing the ball, but I thought Jason McCourty had a pretty efficient game.

I’ll have more to say about the game later in the week.  Take your time to reflect on what happened, and get back on the grind for the Ravens next week.  Nice performance by them this week against the Steelers, but they can’t win the game seven days before kickoff.